Sudbury man claims police abuse, wants cop charged

SUDBURY, Ont. – A city man is taking legal action against a local cop for what his lawyer calls “police bullying,” claiming a police video shows his client's head being smashed into a window at headquarters.

Tanner Currie, 20, was taken to police headquarters June 8 after being arrested for public drunkenness and resisting arrest.

While there, Currie said he was simply placing his hand by his waist after having it freed from handcuffs when an officer drove his head into a window, shattering the glass and causing his neck to ache for weeks.

"I'm thinking he's just going to take me to a cell, and next thing I know I'm face-first into this window and all I can see are these wires and shattered glass," Currie said.

Currie claims he wasn't drunk and was denied a breathalyzer test.

"He held me against the window, screaming in my ear," Currie alleges. "My head was ringing and my ears were ringing and I couldn't even hear a word, but he was still using his weight to force me up against the window."

The officer, Const. Christopher Labreche, stated in a subsequent report that the use of force -- captured on police video and made available to the media -- was necessary because he feared Currie was reaching for his gun.

Currie said that’s absurd.

"He's three times my size, he's got me by one hand that is still cuffed, and my free hand is closed in front of my waist. And there were two other officers watching me."

Currie is now seeking redress through the courts, claiming mistreatment.

A statement of information seeking charges of aggravated assault and assault against Labreche has been filed, said lawyer Trent Falldien.

A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 26, at which time a justice of the peace will determine whether to proceed.

"We're calling it police bullying," Falldien said. "And we are saying he was punched in the face twice before he even got to the police station."

Currie said he was leaving The Grand nightclub at 2 a.m. June 8 when he realized a friend "had just been sucker-punched," and bleeding from his nose and mouth.

When police arrived to break up the melee, Currie said he pointed out the man responsible for hitting his friend to Labreche, but was told, "Get out of my bubble."

Currie claims he was asked to empty his pockets, pushed onto the hood of a police car and then struck twice -- first on the side of his right temple, then on the right cheekbone.

The footage from the police station, which Falldien obtained through a court application, shows his client "already has a black eye" upon his arrival, he says.

Police chief Paul Pedersen said he can't speak to the specifics of the case, as it is before the courts, but said there is a rigorous process to account for any use of force by police -- which can range from an open-hand strike to firing a weapon.